“Showing Up” By Samantha Urbani
“Showing Up” follows Urbani’s recent singles “One Day at a Time” and “More Than a Feeling” and introduces the album’s lyrical preoccupation: the fraying of personal and professional relationships – often leading to unequal power dynamics – and her continued commitment to showing up when it matters. “I’ve always been the tough one, to take care when you’re tired / Suck it up and hold your trembling hand when you’re out there being admired,” she coos over tubular bell effects and raspy bass guitar, later confessing, “Sometimes I wish I had more of a taste for vengeance / Sometimes I wish I’d been born more of a capitalist.”
The video for the track follows the artist on a tender, near melancholic solo travel day from LA to NY- seemingly unsure of what or who awaits her. Filled with easter eggs that call back to Friends’ 2011 ‘I’m His Girl’ music video and style choices reminiscent of ‘90s New York City music culture (including Samantha’s Coogi sweater, a nod to Brooklyn’s Bed-Stuy neighbourhood and the Notorious B.I.G.
For Urbani, it was crucial to emphasise the importance of being emotionally present, be that by showing up for a romantic partner or by rejecting the toxic individualism of capitalist society to help affect positive change. Samantha says of the single:
”It took many iterations to find its most final form of power, just like me and anyone else who’s been thrashed around again and again. I always believed in it though and finally re-recorded the intro verse during mixing, just as we were considering scrapping it. Counted it in like Prince, and cranked up the backbeat. Pretty simple and classic formula: power in vulnerability”
Samantha Urbani
Showing Up
tracklist
1. Showing Up
2. One Day At A Time
3. Fine Lines
4. Common Sense (lovebombed)
5. Guiding Star (ft. Sasha Desree)
6. Isolation
7. An Opportunity
8. Time Keeps Slipping (ft. Rexy)
9. Evidence
10. More Than a Feeling
11. c u clear
Pre-order Showing Up by Samantha Urbani HERE
Latest Reviews
Tracks
Advertisement
Looking for something new to listen to?
Sign up to our all-new newsletter for top-notch reviews, news, videos and playlists.